


Playing It By Lobe

by Medie



Category: The Pretender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-30
Updated: 2010-03-30
Packaged: 2017-10-08 13:11:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They do this dance every time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing It By Lobe

**Author's Note:**

> written for [](http://njborba.livejournal.com/profile)[**njborba**](http://njborba.livejournal.com/) for an older drabble meme. She asked for Parker, Jarod, or Parker/Jarod. I went for all of the above.

Her name is Li and she can read minds. Jarod finds her in the back room of a tiny restaurant in an obscure corner of Chinatown. The people protecting her aren't her parents, the Centre got them years ago, and she smiles widely in greeting.

_Jarod_, she thinks at him happily.

"She does not speak," her guardian tells him.

Jarod smiles and holds out a hand, Li abandons her coloring to run to him. "She says enough," he says, looking down at her.

_I've been waiting for you_.

He nods. "Traffic."

She echoes his nod. _It is a bitch_.

Jarod blinks; Li laughs. It's clear then that this is going to be quite the trip.

*

Parker thinks she gets there seconds too late, she doesn't see Jarod and Li walk past hand in hand. Jarod chucks her under the chin as they pass, grinning as he does. Li gives him a chastising look and he ducks his head.

"Wait," he says.

Li nods and stops to put her coloring book into her bag while he turns to Parker, brushing a slow kiss over her lips.

It's like kissing a statue, cold, unresponsive, and completely unsatisfying. There's nothing of Parker in it as she stands still, frozen in a moment and held there by a child's whimsy. He sighs and steps back, looking down at the little puppeteer.

Li smiles back then tilts her head as his opinion becomes clear. _You_ want_ her to smack you?_

She looks incredulous and he grins. "It's tradition." He knows the explanation makes no sense to her. She may be a telepath but she's still a child. "Come on," he says, reaching for her hand again. "Parker and I will catch up later."

He brushes a hand against Parker's as they leave and swears he feels the fingers twitch.

*

The Centre turns the city over looking for Li, it's just this side of covert. The news features stories of a missing child, abducted by a stranger, but no description is released. Either the Centre doesn't want their star escapee on CNN or they don't know yet, Jarod keeps an eye on the news just in case.

Li doesn't ask, doesn't project at him, just sits with her crayons and her coloring book. She works carefully, her blueberry blue crayon staying just inside the lines. She doesn't say but he knows and moves them to an abandoned brewery.

They walk into the building and Li closes her eyes, smiling. She falls asleep minutes later, curled up on a cot in the corner with Jarod's jacket draped over her.

He thinks, not for the first time, he'd love to be a dad.

*

Parker slams him into the wall, stepping close with her gun in hand. He can't help the grin when he notices how her body curves toward his and she presses a foot down on his.

"Is this about the kiss?" he asks lightly. "Because it wasn't that good. Definitely not worth dying over so, if you're up for it -- "

"Where's the girl?" Parker asks, leaning on his foot.

Jarod slides hands over her hips and she doesn't fight the touch. "Safe." He looks stubborn. "Not this one, Parker, they can't have her."

"She's Centre property." Parker says, not believing the words. She's going through the motions, playing the role for her shadows. He knows she doesn't want them anywhere near Li either.

"She's a _little girl_," he insists, following her lead and playing the part. "They'll destroy her for her talent."

Parker flinches, just a little. No one else would know. "The Centre will protect her."

His look of disdain is genuine. "Yeah, they've done a bang up job on that one so far."

He isn't talking about himself.

Parker kisses him, gun pressed against his side, teeth biting his lip. He laughs and moves, then she's the one pressed against the wall and he's got a stiletto digging into his ass as she grinds up against him. He pushes hands beneath her short skirt, secure they don't have an audience.

"Get her out here," she mumbles, sucking on his ear. Jarod groans, thumb circling her clit. "Somewhere they can't find her. Plans -- "

"I know," he says into her neck, tasting the salt on her skin. "They won't."

She comes, muffling her cry against the leather of his jacket.

*

Li wakes up when he slips into the warehouse, yawning and rubbing at her eye. In the dim light, covered now by a Dora quilt, it's hard to believe she's second on the Centre's hit list.

He tucks her in, singing a lullaby in Mandarin, and grins when she pats the bite mark on his shoulder.

_Better_, she thinks sleepily.

Jarod kisses her forehead and watches her eyes close. "It will be."


End file.
